Impacts of the Current Economic and Financial Crisis on Trade Essay

The current economic and financial crisis is the least the world expects and wishes to happen at this time. Considering the political, social and environmental upheavals happening in almost every continent around the world, people have to face yet another form of crisis that hits them right in the pocket and through their stomachs. Everyone hopes that the economic and financial crisis ebb out soon because of the myriad of other problems and issues the world is confronting. These problems already wreaking havoc in many parts of the world include climate change and the adverse effects it is slowly creating in many risk areas, the political turmoil in the Middle East towards Western Asia where extremism, the oil crisis and militancy are depriving the people their right to peaceful life and secured future. In addition, the threat of nuclear proliferation is again showing its ugly head in countries not exactly known for its civil discretion record and democratic adherence to governance. Henceforth, the global financial crisis is hitting its toll hard on the economy of both the developed and the developing areas. Whatever caused the crisis is something for people of all nations to analyze and give solutions to. There is no other time that a crisis of this magnitude and potential toxic effect on everyone has happened since the great depression in the United States back in the 1930s. Because no one in every developed and developing countries will be spared by this financial and economic tsunami, there is a need for every nation, government, private sector and every concerned citizen of this world to talk to each other, discard their differences and find lasting solution to a turmoil whose long term effects is not so much known let alone the consequences of every possible solutions each economic unit adopts to avoid, control, face or even manage it. Drivers of the economic and financial crisis The financial crisis is believed to be caused by several factors that helped trigger the wave of the meltdown causing more problems and issues to mount creating more havoc along the way. May sectors point to simple greed and irresponsibility in overreaching corporate goals and objectives at the expenses of good governance and ethical conduct? Key corporate executives were known to have concocted various schemes to make money, expanding credit to dangerous limits, creating financial derivatives that are not backed by secure assets giving to market â€Å"balloons† waiting to burst at the prick of the regulatory pin by the government. Banks knew that the symptoms of the crisis appeared when collections on subprime mortgages started to slowdown pinning down the liquidity positions of banks and financial institutions that rely on prompt payments for that all-important shareholder value which banks have to deliver to the stockholders. Such drive for shareholder value gets tempered by the huge compensations and benefits enjoyed by the key executives of Wall Street financial firms. Credit cards transactions substituted for the liquidity that consumers have started to lose. People started to lose homes through foreclosures resulting in more defaults. Borrowers in the market similarly defaulted as well creating a vacuum of bad debts and worthless assets. Accountants and auditors started downgrading, depreciating, and impairing their assets to match the ongoing deterioration in the values of financial resources. While assets were being adjusted for overvaluation, liabilities were being litigated for non-payments and defaults. Stockholders and depositor, fearing the loss of their money to provisions for loan losses and panic withdrawals, withdrew their investments as well and kept them under their pillows until the market conditions stabilize and start to recover. In the meantime, the general sentiments in the market were gloomy, further eroding investor confidence stalling the normal flow of credit money to the business sector. Corporate managers, facing the impact of bankruptcy and tight liquidity, sought government interventions and protection from the economic slide. A number of cunning executives even would create fraudulent transactions to cover up their inability to create profits. Financial scams were discovered along the way, worsening further the already dampened moods in the market. Here, globalization, once taunted as a phenomenon carrying a bunch of opportunities for countries which have erased their boundaries to gain headway in the borderless economies, started to carry the tentacles of the crisis and carried the waves of defaults, unemployment, depression and recession, slackening demand for consumer goods, investments drying up to other countries faster than ever. Immediate and subsequent impacts created by the economic and financial crisis The immediate impacts created by the financial and economic crisis are the loss of investor confidence in a market haunted by bad debts and slow collections, deteriorating values of properties, illiquidity in the market, mergers, consolidations and buyouts, credit squeeze, downsizing of corporate structures, and ultimately bankruptcies for those unable to find workable solutions to the financial mess.   Derivative instruments burst creating a market vacuum that dissipated related derivatives. Money stopped flowing into the credit-hungry manufacturing sector threatening more unemployment and job cuts. Credit card defaults started to create more defaults and payment moratorium and debt restructuring, putting laid off employees in desperate positions for more defaults. Impacts on the developed countries were critical. Luxury and semi-luxury goods suffered a steep slide in demand caused by dampened market outlook and wait-and-see stance. People kept their money while those without started to think about more drastic financial solutions that reflected despair and chaos. Industries such as the automotive, electronics and other luxury players in the market faced an empty market –not much buyers. In the meantime, borrowed funds to sustain the manufacturing sector ballooned to huge levels triggering rush for bailouts from the government. Liquidity has to go back to the economy, but many corporate investments were earlier brought to the developing countries to take advantage of higher returns and assurance of stability in certain self-contained developing markets like China, Malaysia. India, Philippines and Indonesia. These countries were likewise starting to face the prospect of huge repatriation of capital investments back to their home countries already facing the brunt of the category 5 financial storms. On the other hand, the government of the developed countries commenced bailouts and hoped to sustain market demand by creating a gamut of stimulus packages to keep consumer spending going. This was thought to at least confront the depressed market for imported and even local goods. Importers reviewed their orders with many stopping their buying spree from foreign markets, mostly the developing ones. Here, the effects and impact of the crisis started to seep into the doorsteps of the developing countries. On one hand, the repatriation of capital back to the developed countries failed to materialize in the volume as expected due to restrictions and time to liquidate and repatriate. Bankruptcies in the developed countries resulted to more lay offs and retrenchments. Purchasing power for this sector alone dropped significantly and social security and unemployment benefits helped provide buffer to those who lost their jobs. The luckier ones just suffered pay cuts and salary freezes. In the meantime, exports from the developing countries trickled to low levels, dampening as well the manufacturing sector in their areas. Job cuts and lay offs similarly plagued the labor market with already low wages and salaries overtaken by inflationary pressures from the economy. At the social front, workers started to troop to foreign markets not so much affected by the crisis with the hope of repatriating dollar remittances to their families in the developing countries. The scramble for few jobs and the overall depressed employment sector is threatening to spur the rise in criminalities and social unrest. The tourism industry on both sides of the political divide similarly suffered a setback. The maturity of the developed countries focused their efforts on the stimulus packages and bailouts which their governments can very well afford to do so even for the long run crisis that may still affect them. The developing countries, however, already saddled by inflation, poor manufacturing sector, social unrest, insurgencies and the like had to look for new courses of development financial from the IMF, World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and even the Euro market for dole outs, grants and soft loans to soften the critical impact of the slowdown. In some countries, corruption aggravated the already depressed government budgets creating more social and political problems and totally compounding the prospect of early solutions to their issues. Barack Obama, the US President assured the market that bailouts and stimulus packages will be deployed by the government despite branding the crisis as the result of the greet and irresponsibility in the market, his remark given substance by the discovery of huge compensation packages given to Wall Street executives of firms that benefitted from the bailout packages. This infuriated the president who continues to crack the whip to impose discipline and order in the market. While this is being done in the United States, other developed and developing countries have started to address certain cultural solutions to prepare their people on the long-term effects of the scenario.   How and to what extent the crisis has resulted in adverse consequences to the trade and business is staggering and difficult to quantify at this point considering the different impacts and the magnitude that these impacts have on the other aspects of the socio-political and environmental issues. Already, the effects and impacts enumerated are being felt and its end not seen in the immediate future. Economists and everyone else are looking for the signs of recovery that will more or less mitigate the apprehension over the uncertainties looming ahead. Solutions such as the bailouts and stimulus packages are valid concerns but have limited utility to address the big problem. Even trade liberalization can begin to help smoothen the flow to recovery through abolition of restriction and protectionism. But these are not enough. Trade blocks and protectionism might only aggravate the situation.   Certain solutions from the economic and financial sectors might not help much. In fact, they caused the crisis; but definitely, the holistic approach to the measures that will prevent and control the resurgence of another crisis should come from a value-based approach that will address all the impacts created from the perspective of those impacts as well which means a social approach can solve the economic issue, etc. Those in control and have the power and influence to do so should move and talk their way out of the crisis. The ordinary citizen of the world can only do as much at his own level. The gravity of the crisis demands an equally big solution and the willpower to implement it. Conclusion With the economic and financial crisis continuing to create and change the social, political, technological and environmental configuration of the entire world, the civilized world has the responsibility to stabilize the harmful effects and consequences of these events. The trade and business sector has borne the brunt of the crisis both at the local and international fronts. Much of the responsibility to mitigate and reverse the disastrous effects of the crisis rests on the heads of states, their budget experts, the businessmen the private sectors and the general structure of the bureaucracy in response to the distinct kind of measures the market needs to bring discipline, order and sanity to the economy. Capitalism is at the center of this crisis; henceforth, all components that make capitalism work must revisit their strategies, social values and responsibilities, their investment priorities, personal motivations and corporate groupthink syndrome that brought this crisis all along. The solutions will not be easy because decisions will come from most people who helped instigate the crisis at the outset. Here, capitalism will have to reengineer itself, to protect itself from its own malevolence as well as help create a mechanism that will bring the positive and beneficial aspects of its sustainability. Otherwise, capitalism’s and the captains of the industry’s inability to reconfigure and redeem themselves and reverse the adverse consequences that it failed to solve and the factors that were ignored to implement everywhere might just be the key to its own irrelevance in a new form of economy that might emerge from the ashes of its own demise. Reference list (No sources required. Just knowledge of the subject).

AT&T’s use of Total Quality Management

The following is an attempt to analyze AT&T's use of Total Quality Management throughout its organization. Since AT&T is an elaborately enormous corporation I will focus my study to AT&T Power Systems/Lucent Technologies. This division of AT&T has been the industry standard for excellence since TQM was first introduced to the company. AT&T Power Systems has become one the world's most dynamic companies because of its use of TQM. I will provide a brief description of who AT&T Power Systems is, a description of the events that lead up to its use of TQM, AT&T's TQM philosophy, and how this philosophy was implemented. Finally I will discuss the benefits AT&T Power Systems realized through their use of Total Quality Management. AT&T Power Systems provides a verity of power products for the data processing and telecommunications industries. Power System and its 4,200 employee's design, develop, manufacture, and market electronic power systems, components, and power supplies to an increasingly international marketplace. In the past ten years AT&T as a whole has gone through a dramatic metamorphous. It was forced to change from a large telecommunications monopoly providing universal telephone service, to a competitive global corporation roviding a full range of communication services and technologies. The â€Å"new† AT&T is a potpourri of smaller, highly focussed entities. Each entity has its own customers, competitors, and operational functions. Power Systems is the pinnacle of the â€Å"new† AT&T. In less than five years Power Systems has become the prototype for successfully implementing the cultural and organizational revolution know as Total Quality Management. It has not only received internal recognition, but external achievement as well. In 1994 Power Systems was the first American company to win Japan's prestigious Deming Prize for Quality Management. In the ame year AT&T's long distance division won America's Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. AT&T's TQM philosophy made it the first corporation to win these two awards. Why did Power Systems change to TQM? Prior to 1990 Power Systems provided equipment for only its parent company AT&T. Power Systems was a lackluster division of AT&T that reported losses in numerous quarters. As the scope AT&T and business as a whole changed Power Systems was forced to survive on its own. No longer would losses be tolerated, if the work couldn't be completed in a cost-effective manner the division would be sold and the work would be given to an A. M. (Andy) Guarriello, Vice President & COO of Power Systems, was given the job of implementing TQM. Guarriello along with Power Systems management team launched the â€Å"Dallas Vision† project, an initiative involving physical, organizational, and philosophical changes that soon led to the adoption of Total Quality Management as the management system for the future. Power Systems consolidated several of its locations into several small internal business units. These units would become to foundation that Power Systems operated on. Each units is given the resources to develop, engineer, manufacture, and its products. Functions such as human resources, finance, marketing, and sales are provided by smaller organizations developed to support the internal Power Systems Dallas unit was completely redesigned. This 900,000 square foot facility was rearranged into what AT&T calls â€Å"focused factories. Each â€Å"focused factory† has the capability to accept incoming material, manufacture, and ship finished products. This layout was designed much within the guidelines of the Japanese JIT system. Power Systems took the Japanese approach to TQM and modified to fit the AT&T culture. The TQM riteria developed within Power Systems were selected to ensure the company's ongoing focus on high standards for customer orientation, process excellence, employee involvement and continuous improvement. AT&T's TQM philosophy has three main components Quality Policy Deployment, Daily Work Management, and Quality Improvement. These three components combine to ensure robust solutions and continuous improvements. Quality Policy Deployment is the process of aligning the company's attention and resources on a few high-priority, customer-focused issues. This is done to achieve to realize vast improvements in performance. Daily Work Management is a process of defining, measuring, and managing the day-to-day work of individuals and groups to obtain incremental improvements. This gives individual employees the opportunity to see improvements in measures they understand. Quality Improvement is a team-based problem-solving methodology that uses the seven-step process known as the â€Å"QI story process. † The â€Å"QI story process† is designed to detect and eliminate errors that cause defects. Together these three concepts formed an effective solution to Underlying these three concepts are four principles that are the foundation of AT&T's TQM philosophy. These four are customer satisfaction, management-by-fact, respect for people, and P-D-C-A. P-D-C-A is Plan-Do-Check-Act developed by Shewhart. These four principles helped Power Systems implement its cultural change. Without any one of these TQM will not work, so Power Systems' management instituted a training regiment that had every employee had at least two full days of training within the first year of implementation. Power Systems has instilled pride in each one of its employees, which perpetuates outside the business to their customers. Each manager, worker, team member, and internal group believe that they can make a ifference in the operation of the company. Each also believes they have the responsibility to produce a quality product efficiently that not only meets their customer's needs, but also makes profit. This attitude as propelled Power Systems, or as it is now known Lucent Technologies, to the top of its industry. What Benefits did Power Systems see from TQM? Power Systems surpassed the expectations of management to realize colossal growth. Below is a list of improvements from a 1994 AT&T press release. These improvements pertain specifically to Power Systems.

Designing Documents and Interfaces Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Designing Documents and Interfaces - Essay Example User guides mostly contain a lot of written information on a step by step basis on the procedure of using the products. Children below the age of six also tend to comprehend information conveyed through drawings and illustrations. Therefore I added in procedures that are illustrated in form of pictures showing what should be done within the user guide. They could also have pop-up pictures in order to draw in the attention of the children. I also added games in the user guide whereby I put them within the steps in the user guide in order to ensure the attention of the child is not lost as he or she goes over the guide manual.  The changes in the rhetorical situation led to alterations in the design of the user guide manual due to the fact that I made the user guide more colorful and added more pictures to the user guide and also changed the shape of the user guide manual to shapes that would appeal to children. I believe these changes were effective due to the fact that Children bel ow the age of 6 years would be more drawn in by illustrations and

Professional Nursing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Professional Nursing - Essay Example The discussion is guided by Colin Rees' (2003) critique framework, which looks into the following parts of the research article: focus of the material, the background presented, the terms of reference, the study design, the data collection method, and ethical considerations. It goes further to include looking into conclusion and recommendations, readability, and finally, its implications to practice. These parts provide for the body of this critique Focus. The theme of the research article is that there is no relationship between isotretinoin or antibiotic/topic treatments and depression and the patient's quality of life. This article could be filed under the key words: acne therapy, adverse effects, causal relationship, depression, and isotretinoin. The title clearly gives a clue to the focus. Despite its limited number of respondents and other limitations, the study is important to the profession or practice as it can add to the pool of research on the subject. Background. The study claimed that there have been increasing interests about the possible relationship between isotretinoin therapy and depressive symptoms. It quoted Ault's (1998) study, which estimated that there have been more than two million users of isotretinoin in the United States since 1982. Further, it said, Wysowski et al's (2001) research mentioned that between 1982 and 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA had received 431 adverse reaction reports on isotretinoin therapy. These included cases of depression, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts and suicide in patients. Also, Ault (1998) was said to have reported 37 suicides, 110 hospitalized patients and 24 cases of recurring depression on drug re-challenge. The literature mentioned about gaps in research, hence the undertaking of the study. It said that while the literature pertaining to the efficacy and physical adverse effects of isotretinoin (13-cis-retinoic acid) are widely available, the psychological effects, particularly depression, are not well documented. This was mentioned in the researches done by Mills and Marks (1993), Bigby and Stern (1988), and Hull and Bartel (2000). The research said there are possibilities for association but causal relationship is not established, nor any etiological relationship. Further, it is not clear whether depression is a result of using isotretinoin, or the psychological effect of suffering severe acne or even a combination of both. No local problems have been laid out, understandably because drug side effects are a worldwide concern and the scope is beyond the locality. The research may have been carried out as "although the possible association between isotretinoin and depression has been known for over 15 years, no causal relationship or etiological mechanisms have been established." (Ault, 1998). There was no theoretical or conceptual framework presented for this case. Terms of reference. The aim of the research, in the words of the authors, "is to evaluate depressive symptoms and quality of life in acne patients having either isotretinoin or antibiotics/topical treatments." Although there was no hypothesis, the dependent variables are clearly isotretinoin and antibiotic/ topical treatment. On the other hand, the independent variables are depression, quality of life, and acne severity ratings. There were

Community college budget cut Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Community college budget cut - Research Paper Example Other than reducing student enrollment, some institutions have been forced to limit the number of programs they are offering due to the budget cuts. Laying-off of workers has been reported in some institutions because the institution can no longer sustain them. This phenomenon is evident in states that fund their institutions of higher learning. The paper will explore community college and state university budget cut, and how this political issue will affect the government and the people of the United States, now and in the future. In her article, â€Å"State Colleges Forced to Limit Programs,† Laurie Beth Harris asserts that the state colleges will be forced to limit their programs due to the budget cuts. The author begins by stating that the demand for jobs in the fields of health care and engineering has continued to expand. However, states such as Texas, Florida, and New York have abolished programs at the public universities in subjects like engineering and computer science. The elimination of these programs is attributed to the budget cuts. Apart from elimination of the entire programs, the schools have been incapable of expanding popular programs to meet the demand of the students. For instance, in Raleigh North Carolina, Wake Technical Community College has seen its enrolment expand by approximately 30% in the previous three years and at the same time getting budget cuts from the state of approximately 21% (Harris 1). The community college is popular for its nursing program, which is limited to 275 students; however, there are close to 1000 individuals waiting to be enrolled into the program. This has forced Wake Tech to develop a waiting list for the nursing program. While some students are waiting to be enrolled into the nursing program, others are positioned in a prenursing program. With the limited spots (275 individuals) for the nursing program, stakes

Structural design for serviceability Thesis Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Structural design for serviceability - Thesis Example As standards advance toward probability-based limit state design methods, serviceability issues are expected to become an integral part of design consideration. Whether a structure has passed a limit state is really a matter of perception. As far as the ultimate limit state is concerned, the perception is technical, and there are sets of rules and regulations which are established by building codes. However, in the case of serviceability limit the perception is often non-technical, as they involve the judgments and anticipations of occupants. As a consequence, serviceability limits in general have not been codified since desirable limits frequently alter from application to application. Hence, they remain a matter of contractual agreement between the owner and designer, and thus are not specified in the building codes. The purpose of the current project will be to explore and gather the history of serviceability criteria used for various types of structures. Design deflection and vibration criteria will be relaxed by increasing the floor span and reducing the member size, and the likely effects will be perceived. The paper will later look into possible techniques used for improving structural stiffness without incurring additional cost and materials. The objectives of this study are: to gain better understanding of structural serviceability performance needs of each country, to exchange data on structural serviceability and to develop performance-based design procedures for structural serviceability. The object of serviceability design is acceptable performance during expected service conditions for the design life. The objective maybe is to prevent damage to ceiling plaster or wall glazing elements to maintain a pleasing appearance or to prevent uncomfortable movement. Deflection is typically limited to some proportion of the span. Building construction may be such that there is a wall located near the

Compare airline and railway in China Case Study

Compare airline and railway in China - Case Study Example The following economic analysis of China Railway transport and Aircraft Industry provides a detailed comparison of the two sectors (Zhang and Anming, 130). These coverage of analyses logically vary from HSR to China Aircraft Industry, these tends to wrap the construction costs of transport projects, maintenance and operation costs of related transport services, direct user benefits mostly time and cost savings, and a limited externalities such as congestions, overcrowding, transport safety impacts and emissions (Chou, Jui-Sheng, and Changwan, 6954). Regarding High-Speed Train locally the benefits related to the use of HSR outlays the cost thus it’s more convenient in China (Cheng and Yung-Hsiang, 56). Compared with China Airline Industry the High-Speed Train is more beneficial to the domestic market as compared to the international market (Cheng and Yung-Hsiang, 56). However, internationally China Airline Industry is benefits outlay the costs of using High-Speed Train, which is not implemented in many countries. It measures the intensity of market access that the various industries have at a particular location. It is because firms currently interact not only with domestic firms who happen to be immediate competitors, but also to an increasing degree with firms in more and more isolated locations, the economic mass of a city is given by the sum of the extent of market size (Cheng and Yung-Hsiang, 56). Therefore, economic mass is the extent of overall market access, or the efficient economic size of town or city. High-Speed Rail in China has a huge domestic market as compared to the China Airline Industry (Campos, Javier, and Gines, 22). It is contributed, by the large, middle-class citizens in who use rail compared to the wealthy who uses airline transport. These are by principle measured in terms of jobs created for every location. In addition, these jobs are related to the overall economic output at every location though

Love Brief case state v stark Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Love Brief state v stark - Case Study Example Proceeding: The proceeding can be correctly categorized into multiple counts; for the first of these Stark was found to be guilty and hence charged to a total of one twenty months or ten years. As far as the second and third counts are concerned through a bench trail Stark was found guilty and then charged for a duration of ten years with an additional consecutive forty three months. Issue: There are certain area’s of concern as far as this case is concerned. The first line of argument is that of Starks intentions; more specifically that of his actions being solely carried out with the objective of causing bodily harm. Another issue is that of the courts specified sentence, which 120 months only for the first count. A question that rises here is whether the sole reason for this specified sentence was based purely on future dangerousness of Stark’s actions. Holding: The ruling of the case was based primarily on the specific dictations by law which holds an individual responsible for his actions, which are intended to do bodily harm to another person, making him guilty of second degree assault. Stark’s careless behavior and reckless actions that transmit or expose other individuals to HIV do just that. Reasoning: Stark’s conviction was based on the availability of evidence that can easily be concerned as sufficient to establish intent. Testimonies from the victims, Stark’s neighborhood friends as well as his doctor and nurse all pointed towards his consciously aware reckless behavior and intent to do harm. Stark clearly stated in one of reported conversation â€Å"I don’t care. If I’m going to die, everybody’s going to die† leaving no room for doubt of his intentions and hence making an appropriate court sentence inevitable. Prior to this case, other cases such as, Commonwealth v. Brown and State v. Haines can be analyzed to find that similar sentences were given for comparable crimes by

Human development Essay Example for Free

Human development Essay Human development entails all means to widen man’s preferences so he could sustain a healthy lifestyle, enjoy human rights, experience the normal way of living, and discover ways to become useful for the service of others and for his own esteem. Similarly, he can enjoy living a contented life enjoying the privilege of having political, cultural, communal, and economical liberties. Human development has its own justification. If at some point one’s development is questioned or criticized or discriminated against, so long as one does not interfere with other people’s lives nor deprive them of their own happiness, one owes nobody an explanation for what he does, for who he is and how he has become. In order to pull off this human development, he may seek some channels to build up his entire being. Socialization can be one of those channels wherein such channel will give them a sense of being in the right place and eventually develop and become the right person they wanted to be. Socialization can never be done it is composed of only one person. You have to meet people who may share the same the interests, cultures, norms, ideals, talents, or other similar stuff that you can relate to. To develop fully as individual, one must discover his or her potentials and share them to others. Of course, socializing entails hardships in managing time and adjusting to a group of people. But then, if you love the group you are in or are interested of improving yourself, all these problems could not possibly overshadow your development as a human being. Man’s socialization skills therefore are essential in his development as a person. If he uses his socialization skills to the fullest, he may become unaware of the extent that his socialization skills would take him if developed. If he learns to discover and harness such, he will undoubtedly provide himself with a huge room to completely grow as a human being.

Carlos Ghosn At Nissan An Evaluation Management Essay

Carlos Ghosn At Nissan An Evaluation Management Essay In 1999 Renualt and Nissan formed an alliance, as both companies could benefit from each other. Renualt needed a partner that could enhance their global position and Nissan had been looking for a strategic partner because they needed financial support after their credit rating was announced to be lowered to junk status, mainly due to the Asian financial crisis. The alliance should also contribute to new management ideas for Nissan to turnaround their seven out of eight year deficit. Carlos Ghosn was the guy to help Nissan to do this. The challenges that Ghosn faced were among others resistance to change, Japanese culture and communication problems. Ghosn promised that if he hadnt changed the deficit to a profit within two years, he would step down from his job at Nissan. He managed to turnaround Nissan in just eighteen months. Evaluation of Carlos Ghosn approach The evaluation of Ghosn approach to the turnaround of Nissan is addressing the following aspects. At the end of the paper the actual evaluation will be stated. Resistance to change When strategic changes are going to be implemented in companies, resistance to change almost always appears, and Nissan were no exception. The resistance in Nissan occurred because the Japanese culture is bureaucratic and focuses on social harmony. But organizational culture also caused some resistance from the employees. With that said I dont think that the employees where that resistant. It sounds like the employees knew that the situation was serious, and they didnt want to lose their job. As stated later in the paper, the mindset of the employees change and that the changes happened very fast. Some of the main causes of resistance are unawareness of what and why things are changing and lack of communication from the leader to the employees (Ford 2009). The first thing Ghosn embrace is exactly those things, and thereby avoid resistance concerning those causes. Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 4 Reasons for resistance Despite of the things Ghosn do to avoid resistance, there is some resistance from the employees. The causes for resistance are seen below: No guaranty of lifetime employment Promotion based on performance instead of seniority and education (Nennkou-Jyoretu philosophy) Ghosn encouraged risk-taking Matrix structure The changes for the employees were thus large, as their whole business mindset had to change. The causes are described in the following: Lifetime employment was security for the employees as they knew that they would never lose the job. The Japanese government would bail the company out if they were in financial trouble. This, though, werent the case for the major financial house, Yamaichi, which went bankrupt and not saved by the government just before Ghosn came to Japan (case: C551). This changed the employees mindset so they got a sense of urgency of getting Nissan to perform well again or else they could lose their job. A big resistance from the employees was the promotion of younger leaders over older, longer-serving employees. The Nennkou-Jyoretu philosophy did no longer exist, as Ghosn wanted to promote risk-taking and personal accountability and responsibility. This was done by introducing performance based incentive systems, which included cash incentives and stock options for achievements directly linked to successful operating profit and revenue (case:C553). The change of the promotion system would course some resistance from the employees that were up for a promotion, but didnt get it because of the new system. This could create a dis-motivating problem that Nissan has to consider and exterminate. The reason for changing the promotion system was to encourage risk taking. The Nemawashi philosophy destroyed the effectiveness of decision making in Nissan and other Japanese companies. These informal meeting before information meeting was Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 5 held to protect the individual from making bad decisions, and in the previous promotion system, the only thing preventing the employee of a career advancement what failure and mistakes. This Ghosn changed as he wanted the employees to think, take responsibility and be accountable for what they did. Every report that the employees handed in had to be accurate and the employees was held accountable for what was stated in the report. Ghosn changed the organizational structure to a matrix structure. This meant that every employee will have two bosses; a functional and a regional. The often fatal weakness of this structure is the discussions among employees from different departments about resource allocation (KaplanNorton 2006), and thereby cause resistance to the change. It was not only the employees that were resistance to change. Business analysts and the media both criticized Ghosn for going against the Japanese culture by firing people that not met targets, this also let to a nickname: the foreigner (case: C552). The government responded to this change of business culture by offering subsidies and programs for the affected employees, probably because they saw the rational of not bailing companies out of their crisis, just because they didnt manage their company well. Organizational culture To turn Nissans deficit to a profit, the corporate culture had to change. The Japanese culture had a big impact on how the corporate culture was, but some of the problems at Nissan where not normally seen in other Japanese companies. On top of the problems Ghosn states (see case: C549), there are some other organizational problems. These problems were: Follow-up on decision was not effective Top management had created tunnel vision regarding market share instead of profit à   created unprofitable products Communication problems through the layers Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 6 Top management did not follow up effectively on decisions, which made it difficult to know which decisions were successful and which were bad. The consequence is that Nissan doesnt learn of their mistakes and thereby cannot use the lesson learn from bad decision or the experience from good decisions to future decision making. Top management focused on market share instead of profit, which created unprofitable products as listed in the case: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ only four out of 43 models turned a profit. (Case: C546). The reason for this focus was the maintenance of company size and staff. This corporate problem stem from the long standing partnership between the government and major businesses to ensure lifelong employment. As there was no guaranty at being bail out by the government, Nissans strategic focus has to change to regard profit instead of market share. The communication problem at Nissan concerns no shared vision or strategy throughout the company. Staff doesnt know what the top management is doing and top management doesnt know what the other managers and employees are doing. This may lead to a company that doesnt move in the same direction as the employees dont know the direction they should work. This problem stems from the national culture problem that groups dont talk to each other, and only worry about how their own department is doing. What Ghosn did to enlist support To handle the above problems Ghosn made three principles that transcended all cultures in the firm. These were: 1. Transparency 2. Execution 95%, strategy 5% 3. Communication These principles were used to give employees structure and give guidance on what to keep in mind when managing the company in the future. Ghosn was surprised how fast the employees at every level adapted to the new management process. But he also saw the cultural problem as a challenge and he Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 7 stated that it was important to respect the employees culture. This led to the following initiatives: The first thing Ghosn did was to ensure that the people that accompanied him from Renault had the same respect and attitude for Nissan and the Japanese culture as him. He initiated long discussions with several hundred managers in order to get an insight on the day-to-day operations. He turned the resistance into feedback and used the conversations with managers as a resource to find the optimal solutions (Ford 2009). After these discussions he developed a program which encouraged the employees at Nissan to contribute recommendations for the company. This replaced outside hiring and Ghosn hoped this induced motivation. This program called Cross-Functional-Teams (CFT) consisted of 10 members from different departments. The groups also contributed to better insight across the different departments, and moved away from the imploded relationships in the company (Krackhardt 2000). It also gave the employees a better insight of the company as a whole. The groups developed a new corporate culture from the best elements of the Japanese culture (case:C551). Working in these groups also helped the managers to think in new ways and share ideas across departments. Ghosn created a matrix structure so every employee had two bosses; this improved the transparency and communication between the departments and also the awareness of both functional and regional problems. Ghosn disciplined employees strongly for inaccurate and poor data; he wanted employees to take responsibility. This was to stimulate risk taking and personal accountability. Ghosn created a system of if you contribute there will be opportunity and reward (case: C553) These initiatives and the fact that Japanese respect leadership helped Ghosn to incorporate his new management process in the corporate culture. Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 8 National culture The Japanese culture is very incorporated in every company in Japan as so in Nissan, and it is hard not to affect Ghosn. The national culture has challenged Ghosn both on the personnel side and the financial side. The following are listing some of the Japanese cultures impact on Nissan: The keiretsu philosophy à   tying up capital of $4 billion Cultural consensus of group harmony creates efficiency à   no awareness of what is going on outside own group (Imploded relationship; Krackhardt 2000) Finger pointing à   no one accepted responsibility. Blamed everyone but themselves. Acceptance rather that responsibility because culture protects career advancement Nemawashi à   informal meetings before information meetingsà   no individual to blame Hampered risk-taking and slowed decision making at all levels. Routine, details and concepts with no sense of urgency slowed decision making and created no risk taking As Ghosn states: The Japanese are so organized and know how to make the best of things. The respect leadership. (Case:C550) Ghosn had a very open mind when entering the job, for instance he didnt wanted to learn much about the Japan before he came, because he didnt wanted to get any preconceived ideas (case: C546). Ghosn had also worked at four different continents and spoke five different languages, which indicates that he has an open mind to cultural differences and that he is used to work in different cultures. You can say that Ghosn is multicultural. This helped Ghosn to reduce the difference between his culture and Nissans culture, and thereby didnt induce deep cultural differences. Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 9 Culture as a helper or hindrance Culture was both a helper and a hindrance for Ghosn. The hindrance consisted of how deep Japanese culture where incorporated in Nissan, such as no responsibility, accountability and risk taking from employees and the keiretsu philosophy. The respect for leadership was a big helper for Ghosn, as the employees at every level where willing to change their mind and embrace new ideas. Ghosn himself was very surprised that the acceptance of change happened that quickly. The way Ghosn embraced the cultural difference was: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ by accepting and building on strengths of the different cultures, all employees, including Ghosn himself, would be given a chance to grow personally through the consideration of different perspectives. (case: C550). This way Ghosn made culture into an opportunity and not a hindrance for managing Nissan. Luck and timing One of the most powerful impacts on strategy execution is the capital market (BowerGilbert 2007). One of the reasons that Nissan needed help was the Asian financial crisis, where the devaluation of the yen/USD had a big impact on Nissans keiretsu investments. This meant that Nissan should find a new partner in the automobile industry to avoid a credit rating as junk. They also needed new capital and new ideas. The financial house, Yamaichi, went bankrupt at the same time Ghosn arrived to Japan, and where not helped by the government. This sent a message to Nissans employees that they should not be sure of having a job if Nissan proceed with their operations as usually. Ghosn also took advantage of the situation by using the Yamaichi example any time possible. Renault looked for a partner, as they wanted to exploit the Japanese and the North American market to enhance their global position. Another reason was to reduce their dependency of the European market. In May 1998 Renault merged with DaimlerCrysler, which led to a sense of urgency of finding a partner to compete more Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 10 globally. If Renault didnt alliance with Nissan, Ghosn would never have been COO of Nissan. Another thing is that Ghosn came to Renault in 1996, if the alliance were made before that, Ghosn would not have been the leader of the changes. If the alliance were made in the beginning of his career at Renault it is not sure that Ghosn would have got the job. All these events have resulted in the success of Nissan turning their deficit to a profit. If these events where not happening at the same time, it is not certain that the success Ghosn experienced would have happened. I dont think than Ghosn could have had the same success a few years earlier, as the Yamaichi bankruptcy changed Nissans employees mindset referring to their job security. Renault would probably not have been looking for an alliance partner (and Ghosn would not have been in Nissan), if they hadnt got the need of a global position on the world market, which they urgently got in 1998 after the merger with DaimlerChrysler. The conclusion is that both luck and timing of many elements affects the success of changes. Evaluation My opinion of Carlos Ghosns approach to turning Nissan around is that it was the right way to do it. Ghosn knew that he had to respect the national culture, and he knew that he had to lead the employees being heard. The latter is often a reason why resistance occurs, because it is the employees that know the day-to-day operations and know what can be done (Ford 2009). A key initiative he imposes was the CFT, which should enforce communication and motivation: He (red.Ghosn) felt that if the employees could accomplish the revival by their own hands, the confidence in the company as a whole and motivation would again flourish. (Case:C550) Tina Nielsen Strategy Execution 48-hour exam 050684-1216 CM-J41 Oktober 29th 2010 Page | 11 This was very clever as the CFT accepted the firing of the 21,000 employees. This was accepted of the employees because if the CFT agreed on that, then it must be right, or else they wouldnt have fired people. If it was Ghosn alone that made the decision, employees may not have been accepting that as fast, and resistance would have appeared. The way Ghosn approached the Japanese culture were with humility and respect, this was necessary in a country where culture is as important as in Japan. Literature Ford, J. D. and Ford, L. W. (2009). Decoding resistance to change. Harvard Business Review, 87(4), 99-103 Kaplan, R. S. and Norton, D. P.(2006).How to implement a new strategy without disrupting your organization. Harvard Business Review, 84(3), 100-109 Krackhardt, D. and Hanson, J. R.(1993).Informal networks: the company behind the chart. Harvard Business Review, July/August, 104-111 Bower, J. L. and Gilbert, C. G. (2007). How managers everyday decisions create or destroy your companys strategy.Harvard Business Review, 85(2), 72-79

The Haber Process :: essays research papers

1. The Haber Process During the first decade of the twentieth century the world-wide demand for ammonia for use in fertilisers (in the form of nitrates) and in the production of explosives for use in mining and warfare could only be satisfied on a large scale from deposits of guano in Chile (2). Though this deposit was of huge size (approximately five feet thick and 385 kilometres long) it represented a rapidly depleting resource when compared to world-wide demand. As a result of this there was much research into how ammonia could be produced from atmospheric nitrogen. The problem was eventually solved by Fritz Haber (1868 - 1934) in a process which came to be known as the "Haber Process" or the "Haber - Bosch Process". Haber developed a method for synthesising ammonia utilising atmospheric nitrogen and had established the conditions for large scale synthesis of ammonia by 1909 and the process was handed over to Carl Bosch for industrial development (1). the reaction is a simple equilibrium reaction which occurs in gaseous state as follows; N2 (g) + 3H2 (g) = 2NH3 (g) heat of enthalpy = -92.6 kJ/mol In predicting how to obtain the highest yield from this reaction we must refer to Le Chatlier's Principle. This states that for an equilibrium reaction the equilibrium will work in the opposite direction to the conditions forced upon it. The conditions most pertinent to the above reaction are temperature and pressure. The pressure exerted by any gas or mixture of gasses in an enclosed space is directly proportional to the number of atoms or molecules of gas regardless of their size or molecular mass. Reference to the above reaction shows that, as the reaction moves to the right the number of molecules and hence the pressure decreases. Therefore the reaction moving to the right (i.e. towards the product required) is favoured by an increase in pressure. With regard to temperature, the reaction moving to the right is exothermic i.e. it gives off energy (in the form of heat). Therefore reference to Le Chatlier's Principle shows that the reaction to the right is favoured by low temperatures. However, when Haber placed the reactants together under these conditions it was shown that the rate of reaction was so slow as to render the process unfeasible as an industrial process. This is because of an unusually high activation energy. The activation energy of a reaction is the energy required by the reactants to achieve an intermediate state required before they form the products.

Mexico Essay -- Mexican Economy, Politics

Mexico is a country that has long been thought of as being an impoverished nation, with many more people who are among the poor that those who can be reasonably be considered to be wealthy. In recent years the Mexican people have had a dramatic change in their demographic outlook, with the largest change being in the fertility rate having dropped from 6.5 in the early 70’s to its current rate of 2.2 – easily the fastest rate of decline in the world today. With the importance of family to the Mexican people it is hard to imagine that these new rates will be sustainable in the future and will have dramatic negative implications for the economies of both Mexico and the United States as the population ages without replacement workers (McGoldrick, Giordano & Garcia-Preto, 2005; Sedano, 2008). The Mexican people are a people who find their roots amongst the Mayan, Aztecan and other Native American people. They also often share an ancestry with the European Spanish who conquered and settled much of what is today Mexico and the American Southwest. Their common language is Spanish and the majority of Mexican people follow the Catholic religion, which interestingly has changed in many ways to include many of the traditions and symbols of the other more ancient religions that were practiced before the Spanish conquest and the forced conversion of the natives. There still runs a deep attachment to â€Å"folk† medicine to cure ailments that are most likely caused by stress or other psychological means such as fright, the â€Å"evil eye† and even indigestion (McGoldrick, et. al., 2005). The family in Mexico is predominantly patriarchal in nature there is also a great deal of respect that is due the mothers of the family. Family types range from nuclea... ...e more educated parents (McCabe, 2002). It was discovered that such factors as income, perceptions of stigma, expectations of therapist directness, therapist-client match and even acculturation had no significant effect of the dropout rates. The greatest predictors were instead, parental belief in strict discipline in reaction to behavioral and emotional problems along with the perception of barriers to getting treatment (McCabe, 2002). While it is seen that acculturation may increase the ability of the client to seek assistance and that the acculturation of the parents may help them better understand the role of therapy in helping with behavioral and emotional problems will help more adolescents with these problems seek help it does was shown that improving the parents expectations and attitudes towards therapy may have beeter retention outcomes (McCabe, 2002).

Ghost Soldiers Essay

The novel, Ghost Soldiers is a great book written by Hampton Sides. It depicts the true horrors of war, friendship and hope. The story takes place in the Philippines during the Japanese takeover of the island from 1942 until the year 1945, after the outbreak of World War II, when the Japanese assaulted the Philippine islands and captured it. This resulted in many prisoners of war. The American armies ran out of supplies and were tired from fighting and it led to the surrender of the American army, the Bataan death march and the imprisonment at Cabanatuan camp. The American navy was not able to evacuate completely. Most of the soldiers were left behind and taken as prisoners by the Japanese army. Hundreds of the American soldiers were taken to the Cabanatuan Camp where they were taken as captives. The Japanese were brutal to the prisoners. They tortured the prisoners, starved them, and they did not give them necessary supplies to survive, no medicine, and adequate food. In chapter one, the book focused more on April 1942. During the time nobody thought that the Japanese would attack the Philippines. American forces that were in the Philippines were relaxed thinking that the Japanese would not attack and after months of siege the American defense collapsed. During the defense, Major General Edward King was the commander of the forces at Bataan. The Japanese attack is sustained, vicious and victorious, forcing Filipino and American armies to surrender. After the surrender of the American Army in Bataan, they were grouped to form the Bataan death march. They were forced to walk through the mosquito infested jungle, with the hot temperature reaching nearly one hundred degrees. Most of the soldiers died in the Battle of Bataan, as they reached the camp many of the soldiers were sick and starved by the Japanese. After being held at the war camp for three years, the Japanese war ministry issued a â€Å"Kill All Policy† which meant that they will exterminate all the war camps in the Philippines, killing all the US prisoners in the camp. At the camp named Palawan, over a hundred U. S. soldiers were forced into gasoline filled trenches and burned alive. At camp Cabanatuan the American prisoners were oosing hope, they believe that they are forgotten by their comrades and their country. They called themselves the â€Å"Ghost Soldiers†. In January 1945 at the 6th Army Headquarters, Colonel Henry A. Mucci had been selected to devise a plan and to lead the rescue mission to camp Cabanatuan. Mucci was a tough and ambitious leader. He had been assigned to find a way to free the prisoners behind enemy lines before it was too late. It appeared to be strategically impossible for them to rescue the prisoners. They would face the heavy resistance by the Japanese and greatly outnumbered. But Mucci was ambitious; despite the extreme challenge ahead of him he still took the task. Mucci selected a young Captain Robert Prince to lead the raid who came up with a brilliant yet daring plan. He hand-picked 121 elite rangers and Alamo scouts to go into 30 miles deep into enemy territory and make a surprise attack on the camp. The U. S. joined forces with the Filipino resistance to increase their chances of success. The resistance was led by Captain Juan Pojota who had knowledge of the land area that helped them guide the group to their goal.

Buisiness law

What must a plaintiff, in a negligence case, prove and establish in order to recover? What are some of the common defenses available to defendants in negligence suits? Provide an example of a negligence case with one of the common defenses. Negligence is a mode of committing certain torts like negligently or carelessly committing trespass, nuisance or defamation. It can be defined as the conduct which creates a risk of causing damage, rather than a state of mind. In an action for negligence and recover the plaintiff has to prove the following essentials.That the defendant owed duty of care to the plaintiff 2. The defendant made a breach of that duty . Plaintiff suffered damage as a consequence thereof. But it is to be remembered that the burden of proof of negligence always lies on the plaintiff. (Res Ipsa Loquitur) The defendants can plead defenses to reduce or eliminate his liability. Such defenses are contributory negligence, comparative negligence, and assumption of risk. In cont ributory negligence the negligence of the plaintiff is also contributing cause of her injury and is barred from recovering from a negligent defendant.In Harris Vs Toronto Transit Commission (1968) the Supreme Court Canada held that if a boy sitting in a bus projected his arm outside the bus in spite of warning and is injured, he is guilty of contributory negligence. A comparative negligence is a type of partial defense in which there is a reduce in the amount of damages that a plaintiff can recover in a negligence-based claim based upon the degree to which the plaintiff's own negligence contributed to cause the damages.The assumption of risk denotes that the plaintiff himself knew that his activity was dangerous and thus bears all responsibility for any injury that resulted. ************************************************ References 1. Elliott, Catherine and Quinn, Frances Tort Law publ. by Longman; 5 editions ISBN-13: 978-1405807111, 2005 2. Miller, LeRoy, Roger and Jentz, Gaylord Business Law Today: The Essentials, Publisher: South-Western College/West; 8th edition, ISBN-13: 978-0324654547, September 26, 2007,

Industrial Revolutionists Thomas Edison

During a time of industrial economic revolution there were few people who were recognized as major contributors to the country†s evolvement. Among these people were Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison. These three men possessed incredible intuition, genius and personal determination that shined brightly throughout their extraordinary lives. Each individual proved to be nothing less than successful in his career by striving to surpass his competitors and by constantly trying to reach goals that were practically unattainable. In this essay I will cover each individuals life and accomplishments, identify how these men helped the nation fix its domestic economic flaws and explain why I think they were successful over achievers rather than â€Å"robber barons. † Andrew Carnegie was one of these individuals. Although he was born poor, he did not let his financial disability get in the way of success. He started out his career at the bottom of the social latter. In fact his first job was working as a bobbin boy at a textile mill. He labored more than sixty hours a week receiving $1. 20 for each week†s work. As horrid as this seems, he displayed his potential by becoming Pittsburgh†s fastest telegraph reader. Unbelievably he read the telegraph by reading the sounds of the keys by ear. After decoding many of the city†s business leader†s messages, Carnegie developed an insider†s view of their operations. Finally, in 1852 a superintendent of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Tom Scott, hired Carnegie as his secretary and personal telegrapher. He worked as the railroad†s telegrapher for seven years until Scott was promoted to vice president of the company. This enabled Carnegie to be promoted to Scott†s former position. Now that he had the ability to â€Å"stretch his legs† he showed just how valuable of an employee he was. He did this by doubling the company†s road mileage and quadrupling its traffic. Not too long after, his annual income rose to almost $60,000! Even though Carnegie had already embodied the â€Å"rags to riches† dream he was not satisfied. In the 1870†³s he decided to build a steel mill. He furnished it with nothing but state of the art steel producing technology. He named it the J. Edgar Thompson Mill. With the combination of his management knowledge and intuition he learned how to produce steel much more cheaply than his competitors. He did this by salary cutbacks and by making sure no materials were wasted. â€Å"Watch the cost, and the profits will take care of themselves. † This was his motto and what he firmly believed in. Because Carnegie could see the â€Å"big picture,† he began vertical integration (controlling all aspects of manufacturing). This gave him the ability to control every thing from the extracting of raw materials to the selling of the finished product. Basically, Carnegie had built a monopoly (exclusive control over the entire steel commodity). By now Carnegie had help in running his company. Along with his business associates, he developed a partnership with Henry Clay Frick who eventually became the chairmen of Carnegie Steel. With Frick†s leadership, profits constantly rose giving Carnegie more time to focus on his philanthropy. Carnegie felt that â€Å"fortunes corrupted their possessors†, so he donated over three hundred million dollars to philanthropy projects! This funding helped establish foundations and proved to be beneficial to universities, libraries as well as his popularity. About ten years later, the aged Andrew Carnegie agreed to sell Carnegie Steel Company to J. Pierpont Morgan. It was agreed that Morgan would buy the company for five hundred million dollars. Once the transaction was complete, United States Steel was born. Carnegie proved himself to be a self made man of success who started at the bottom and trudged his way to the top. With his amazing intuition and decision making ability he built an empire that made a notch in American history and helped bring about the industrial revolution. John D. Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil Company, also played a role in the industrial revolution. He too longed for wealth and prosperity. He went about this by making many little decisions rather than huge ones. He did this by adjusting every single aspect of his oil company until it was a finely tuned money making machine. He stressed the importance of â€Å"providing a reliable product† and used the latest techniques in ensuring the quality of his products. Like Carnegie, his crude business techniques along with his extraordinary intuition in the understanding of the industry provided for a complete monopoly over the industry. He displayed his power by pricing his products below cost. This caused his competitors and merchants that refused to sell his products to go under financially. By 1879, Rockefeller owned ninety percent of the nations oil refining capacity. Unlike Carnegie, Rockefeller devised a plan to merge all of the competing companies into one giant system. He did this by persuading stockholders of forty companies to exchange their stock for certificates of trust. He formed a board of trustees to run all of the companies. This proved to be a remarkable idea indeed because within three years the Standard Oil Trust had cut the number of refineries in half. This resulted in a rapid growth of Standard Oil and its spread to several other continents. Because other fields of manufacturing began to catch on to Rockefeller†s tactics, monopolistic control began to rise in different areas of the country. This provoked the public to ask for an investigation of trusts and their operations. In 1890, Senator John Sherman led Congress into passing the Sherman Anti-Trust Act which outlawed trusts and contracts or combinations in restraint of trade. It also established fines and jail times as penalties. Because the government vaguely defined â€Å"trust† and â€Å"restraint of trade† few were prosecuted. When Rockefeller and Standard Oil were finally challenged in 1892, he simply transformed his nine trustees into the board of directors of Standard Oil. This helped the company elude prosecution and caused the continuation of growing profits. Like Carnegie, Rockefeller found the loophole in the economic system and took advantage of it. But he also displayed his keen sense of intuition and decision making by making decisions that helped his company adapt to the changing laws. He too showed that through hard work, determination and understanding of one†s surroundings a person could be successful. The third of these successful individuals is Thomas A. Edison. An inventor born in 1847, he believed in hard work and self-promotion. Like Carnegie and Rockefeller, Edison envisioned an interconnected industrial system founded. This though was being founded on the basis of technology. Through out his life he had many inventions having the stock quotation printer as his first. The profits he received from the sale of the printer†s patent gave him enough money to build his very own â€Å"invention factory†. After the invention of the telephone, Edison focused on electric light. During this time he invented the phonograph which gave him even more determination and self-motivation to develop a new filament for incandescent light bulbs. He finally perfected a process of generating electricity and found a filament that would glow dependably in a vacuum. Backed by J. P. Morgan in 1882, the Edison Illuminating Company opened a power plant that furnished light for eighty-five buildings. Even though Edison was prospering, he did have competitors stealing his ideas. One example would be George Westinghouse. Westinghouse developed a system that used alternating currents of electricity to provide cheap high voltage power. Of course Edison sued, but it cost two million dollars to defend his patents and relinquish control over his enterprises. Like Carnegie and Rockefeller, Edison merged with a competitor in 1892 to form General Electric. Just four years after, GE agreed to exchange patents with Westinghouse in order to dominate the market. Edison continued to pump out invention after invention. By the time he was done, he had 1,903 patented inventions and had put together an estate worth over six million dollars. Thomas Edison did not quite achieve the financial status Carnegie and Rockefeller did, but he did follow the same path and ended up with a fortune. His presence is still felt every time someone turns the light on. That is definitely an admirable achievement. His inventions helped shape our nation and contributed greatly to the industrial revolution. Although Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison were considered â€Å"robber barons† or tycoons, the big picture can be over looked. During their time many things such as industrialism and business techniques were evolving into a new era of technology and business. It is obvious that these three men were born with an incredible intuition for the industries they were in. It†s not to say no one else of their time shared this ability, but they were among the few who â€Å"reached for the stars† instead of a weekly pay check. These men put into perspective what pursuing the American dream is all about. It was their personal determination and work ethic along with their keen intuition that enabled them to be successful. Many people feel as if it was their greed that lead them to monopolize their chosen industry, causing other competitors to suffer. I think it hadn†t much to do with greed at all. Like any successful person they set their goals beyond their limits. They did nothing more than try to accomplish as much as possible in their lifetime. Doing so they found flaws in the nations economic system and capitalized on them. If anything, this provided for the correction of these flaws and the betterment of the nations domestic business structure. Of course there were those at the bottom of the social chain that suffered, but that still lives on today. Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller and Thomas Edison not only contributed to our country†s industrialization and economic growth, but also proved that the â€Å"American dream† does exists and can be achieved if one puts forth enough of himself to grasp it.

Personal Ethics vs Professional Ethics

My Perception of Personal Ethics and Professional Ethics: Ethics plays a vital role in shaping moral health of a person, a society, a government, or a corporate. Laws, and legislation however much necessary, will never fashion the attitude and character of a person, but ethics will. The sense of accountability to all stake holders, fair treatment to all in interpersonal relationships, integrity, and honesty are the parameters that characterize ethical behavior. Business sustainability demands ethical conduct; otherwise, it will fail. Famous Satyam scandal in 2009 is a shining example of, how business fails due to unethical business practices – Satyam's accounts had been overstated to the tune of 7000 crore rupees or 1. 5 Billion US Dollars over several years. According to Jamsetji Tata, business must operate in a way that respects the rights of all its stakeholders and creates an overall benefit for society – this is ethical business conduct. Yet, the standards of conduct in personal and professional life can be different for some people. A person who gives respect to his acquaintances may not give respect to his peers at work place; however, it is an irrational behavior, which is not desired. To normalize the differences among individuals’ behavior in business, to make ethical behavior measurable, and to take corrective actions accordingly, institutions usually have an Ethics committee to evaluate and maintain their professional code of conduct. When a business decision provokes a conflict between personal ethics and professional ethics, one can refer the standards, and various caselets available for ready reference, and take an appropriate decision. My Personal Ethics Vs Professional Ethics: My work-life spans across two organizations, MindTree and Accenture. There have been no instance where my personal ethics was in conflict with my professional ethics till now. To me there is no difference between personal and professional ethics. I believe that the standards of conduct in personal life does not differ from the standards of conduct in professional life. I respect individuals: be it my family members or my colleagues at work place. I care for my companions; irrespective of organization, I work for and place, I stay.

Analysing Of The Riba Work Stages

Analysing Of The Riba Work Stages On each of the initial work stages of a project the architect is involved in many ways and uses many skills. Before the architect begins any work they must be appointed under the RIBA concise conditions agreement or SW 99. The following is a brief outline of what an architect does in a RIBA standard agreement between architect and client. The first two RIBA work stages come under term ‘Preparation’ in the ‘RIBA, Outline Plan of Work 2007’. The first stage is stage A, ‘Appraisal’; this mainly involves establishing the needs of the client. Three main tasks are carried out. Throughout the initial stages of the project constant communication between the architect and client takes place. Firstly, the architect must carry out studies to determine the feasibility of the Client’s requirements. The architect may also review the alternative design and construction approaches and the cost implications of each with the client. At this stage the arch itect may also provide information for reports on the cost implications. During stage B (Design Brief) the initial ‘Statement of Requirements’ is developed into the ‘Design Brief’. Although this is the responsibility of the client the architect often contributes to its development additionally. Stages C, D and E come under the heading ‘Design’. This begins with Stage C (Concept), where the architect would usually be required to prepare outline proposals for things, such as, the building structure and building services. The architects also develop concept designs for project. Throughout this stage the architect will be leasing with other members of the team, such as, engineers, quantity surveyors and planning supervisors. This communication helps the architect to provide the client with information on approximate construction costs and cost planning which must then be assessed by the client in the stage report. Stage D (Design Development) invol ves the completion of the project brief and the further development of the concept designs. At this stage a cost estimate, or information for a cost estimate, must be provided and the architect will be working closely with statutory planning authorities, for instance, local planning departments. The architect must also prepare a detailed planning application, including drawings and an ‘Access and Design Statement’. At the end of stage D the architect must obtain signed approval by the client of a stage D report (this is broadly outlined in Task 3). The Shirebrook Academy has just seen the completion of this stage and has now been submitted to planning. b) Involvement by the architectural technologist in the science and technology of the building, rather than the creative and artistic side, is the main difference between the work of the architect and the architectural technologist. Many of the tasks undertaken overlap with the work of the architect and a strong collabora tion exists. For example, when working on stages C and D both architect and architectural technologist may work together on developing the project brief and design programme, each contributing specific skills to the project. The architectural technologist may contribute by evaluating and advising upon environmental strategies and material specification, while the architect may work on spatial relationships and movement path diagrams.

Pushing hands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Pushing hands - Essay Example Lee in this movie explores the element of cross – culture relationships and conflicts and issue related to it. This movie is a first of a kind where a father from a traditional background encounters a changing living atmosphere. This movie displays a wisdom and warmth of a traditional Chinese man in a family which has complete urban background. In this movie the character Alex is also stuck between his traditional grandfather, and his modern wife who is fussy. It is painful situation for the grandson and grandfather, as they share blood relation and have to keep up with each other’s expectations. In the end, the movie shows Mr. Chu regaining his hold on life and moves on independently. Plot of the Movie The plot of the movie is the life of an old and retired Chinese martial arts trainer, Mr. .Chu who moves to New York to join his grandson Alex. Alex is living with an American women Martha who is his wife and also a writer by profession. Martha is a neurotic and was suff ering from writer’s block which is condition which affects the writer’s mostly due to overwriting or lack of inspirational thoughts. As per (Nix)â€Å"As it so happens, Martha’s writer’s block started about the same time Mr. Chu moved in, and no one is more aware of this fact than she†. The moment when Mr. Chu joined the Alex’s family, his wife was in a disturbed condition and this makes the relationship of Mr. Chu and Martha bitter. As the movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† initiates, Mr. Chu is shown to be already in New York with his grandson and is uncomfortable and sharing a negative relationship with Martha. The film focuses much on this retired Chinese martial art teacher and his attempts to cope up with his new living atmosphere .In this he also attempts to teach Tai – Chi in a local school, where Alex is a student of Chinese Language. In the following part Mr.’ Chu encounters with a Chinese lady Mrs. Chen, and develops an attraction for her. However, due to Mr. Chu’s less aggressive nature this attraction towards Mrs. Chen s tends to falls out .Normally speaking, this movie tells all about the plight of an old Chinese immigrant in a foreign land and his attempts to fit in the new land of modernism. Background and Theme of the Movie The movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† is written by two writers namely; AngLee and James Schamas.Ang Lee is a Taiwanese man who made use of his Taiwanese heritage to create memorable movies which earned acclamation throughout the world. He has earned Masters from New York University on film, and got noticed in film arena with his classical movie like â€Å"The Wedding banquet†. This movie has earned him Academy award nomination and earned recognition as a director who crossed cultural and national barriers. James Shcamas is the co – writer of this movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† and also is an independent film producer and screen writer. During 19 90s, James Schamus have produced many interesting films which gained much attention and appraisal from film fraternity. He is known for taking risks to bring about stories with is of challenging and versatile nature. The theme of the movie â€Å"Pushing Hands† is culture clash which is prominently displayed between Mr. .Chu and his

Two-Variable Inequality Speech or Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 1

Two-Variable Inequality - Speech or Presentation Example Write an inequality that limits the possible number of maple rockers of each type that can be made, and graph the inequality in the first quadrant. The; is (0,200) the line slants from the left dropping to right. The line represented is solid. The pertinent segment in the graph is the 1st quadrant. The shaded region is from the line and ends at the origin of the graph. A chain furniture store faxes an order for 175 modern rocking chairs and 125 classic rocking chairs. Will Ozark Furniture be able to fill this order with the current lumber on hand? If yes, how much lumber will they have left? If no, how much more lumber would they need to fill the order? Explain your answers. A graph was obtained by drawing x axis horizontally and y axis vertically. An inequality equation was formed based on the questioned above and thereafter used to draw the graph. The shaded region was identified which then was used to obtain the solutions of the

Explain how Germany has sought to have both some security and Essay

Explain how Germany has sought to have both some security and flexibility in its labour markets. Have these approaches been su - Essay Example Social security represents the employment security and social security. The purpose of this paper is to understand the concept of â€Å"flexicurity†. This concept relates to a positive relationship between the two aspects of labour market security and flexibility (Sauert, 2009). However, there are opposing views regarding the concept of flexicurity as well. According to authors like, Stanford and Vosco, increasing flexibility in labour markets is synonymous to decreasing flexibility (Rodgers, 2012). The aim of this paper is to study the context of labour market security and flexibility in Germany and the impact of it on the workforce, especially young workers. This paper also analyses the scenario of wage stagnation and mini jobs in Germany, owing to the labour market conditions. Flexibility and Security of Labour markets: Germany One of the key challenges of the member countries in the European Union is to strike the perfect balance between the flexibility and security of the labour market. The main action of policy makers in this regard has been to pass on the responsibility to the social partners. The underlying assumption in this case is that a well-balanced social dialogue leads to a well-balanced social market (Wilthagen, n.d.). ... In particular regard to Germany, the academic literature is more of a divided nature. One section of the academic fraternity believes that the labour flexibility in the German markets must increase as a precursor to reduce the high level of unemployment in the country. However, the emphasis of the government has been more on increasing the income and job security (Wilthagen, Tros and Lieshout, 2003). Regarding the flexibility status, Germany maintains a vision of internal numerical flexibility. Flexibility of working hours and reduction of overtime continues to be one of the most important policy considerations for the future. Over the recent years, the German Labour market has undergone a great degree of transformation, after suffering great levels of unemployment, both structural and long-term, for decades. The level of difficulty was higher for the unemployed workers as they found it difficult to enter the labour market. Since 2000, the introduction of reforms in the labour market s had widely changed the employment structure in the German labour market. Germany had mainly structured its policy around flexicurity, which aimed at less generous benefit system and lower level of protection against dismissal. The flexicurity model employed by Germany mainly relied on developing a well-built social security system, which structured the labour market policies in a way that would employ the people without jobs. The successful reform package of Germany can be traced to the introduction of reforms by Hartz in between 2002-2005 (Federal Republic of Germany, 2004) and Agenda 2010. The key feature has been to employ the job seekers and enhance the flexibility of labour markets. The main recommendations of the Hartz commission have been

Cancer Research and Funding Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Cancer and Funding - Research Paper Example cancer’s condition, with which it kills its victims, many organizations have ventured into research to address various aspects pertaining to how it can be controlled. For the past one hundred years, the American Cancer Society has been at the forefront in addressing different issues pertaining to cancer, most especially, on how it can be transformed from being deadly to preventable. Based on this perspective, this paper analyzes the different aspects of cancer with regard to its research and funding. Cancer has very diverse, complex, and least understood causes, and in the current situations in which lifestyles have changed significantly, more causes have actually been attributed to the changed lifestyles among many (Patlak and Sharyl 147). There are a number of elements considered to cause cancer including dietary factors, tobacco, environmental factors, exposure to certain elements such as radiation, and obesity among others. All these cause severe damage to cells in certain instances or even result into mutation of cells to cause cancer in other instances. Because a majority of cancer causes are elements that people interact with on choice, has is indeed preventable. This has been one of the reasons for which research has been established to address the different aspects on the causes and prevention of cancer. Some of the preventive measures against cancer include increased intake of fruits and vegetables in addition to whole grains, less consumption of refined foods, constan t exercising, and little radiation exposure (Langwith 108). Initially, cancer was considered as a condition for the rich but the current trend in which it knows no boundaries has raised concerns and increased the calls for research. The major areas that the research seeks to address include preventive measures and treatment procedures for those already affected. Considering the complexity of cancer in how it occurs, calls for detailed research in order to reach an all-inclusive

RESPOND Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

RESPOND - Article Example Online students should not be underprivileged in terms of social learning since they are not able to attend campus. Their access must not just be access to content; instead it should imply access to a rich learning environment that offers a chance for connectedness and interaction (Daniel Palacios-Marquà ©s, 2012). Additionally, numerous office workers are more familiar with different virtual communication tools accessible from instant messaging to e-mail to social networks. However, as training courses also move online, they incline to the loose majority of the cooperative constituents that has resulted in these new technologies to be operational in other fields. The biggest task as seen by the instructors is keeping members engaged. To make operational online participation, instructors should apply four approaches that address the proper use of technology to carry out online instructor-directed learning, participant engagement, enabling of fruitful brainstorming gatherings and team collaboration, and session design so as to achieve good results (Young, 2009). Furthermore, Asynchronous learning is a learner-centered teaching technique that applies online learning means to enable information distribution outside the constrictions of place and time amongst a network of individuals. It highlights the significance of peer-to-peer interactions. Resources of online learning that back up asynchronous learning comprise of blogs, wikis, email, online discussion boards, among others. Additionally, course management systems have been formed to back up interaction online, allowing students to organize discussions, reply to and post messages, among others (Jane E. Brindley,

European Union Law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

European Union Law - Essay Example The UK, having adopted the Directive, has remained silent on the issue of minimum wage while all other stipulations remain the same. Tom is an employee working as a nurse under a local organization by the name of Hoxon Council. Under his employment conditions, he is working an average of 50 hours per week after opting out of the 48 hours per week condition. His hourly wage is 6 pounds and he is entitled to 5 weeks annual paid leave. The overtime has led to deterioration in the health of Tom and even after filing a complaint with his superiors, he did not receive a positive response. This has led to certain implications for Tom which will be discussed within this paper. This paper would attempt to provide a solution for Tom with reference to the existing laws. Could Tom invoke the Directive against his employer? The Directive allows employees to file an appeal against the employer if the conditions of the Directive have not been met. This is done to aid the employees working within th e UK and to prevent too much power in the hands of the organizations (Hartley, 2007). Tom cannot invoke the Directive against the employer for the overtime that he is working. This is because he has willingly opted out of the 48 hour weekly limit by signing a contract with the organization. Since the Directive allows employees to willingly sign out of the agreement, it will not consider the issue of Tom working for 50 hours a week. But in the case of the minimum hourly wage, Tom can invoke the Directive against the employer. The European Union Law has more power over the national law in the case that lesser rights are provided to individuals. The same case is apparent in this issue. The Employee Rights Act as adopted by UK is silent on the issue of minimum wage. However, the Directive stipulates that the minimum hourly wage should not be less than 8 pounds. Tom is only being paid 6 pounds by his employer which is less than the minimum hourly wage. Thus Tom has the advantage of invok ing the Directive against the employee on the issue of the minimum hourly wage. Also in terms of the minimum annual paid leave, Tom can invoke the Directive against his employer. This is because right now he is getting 5 weeks annual paid leave according to the limit set by the Act but the Directive allows for 6 weeks annual paid leave. Here again the Directive has the power to forgo the Act and thus grant Tom 6 weeks annual paid leave. Since Tom is working overtime in order to make ends meet, the increase in hourly wage would positively impact his working conditions. He would not as a result suffer from the health conditions that he is suffering at this point of time. Would it be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive? The indirect effect of the Directive refers to the principle that national laws are under reinterpretation if they are inconsistent with the laws of the European Union. The indirect effect is thus a powerful tool that can be applied in orde r to bring about a change in the national laws to take into account the European Union Law. According to the ECJ ‘national courts are therefore under an obligation to interpret national legislation in accordance with the aims and purposes of the Directive’ (Owen, 2000). In this case, it would be advisable for Tom to rely on the indirect effect of the Directive. This is so because the indirect effect would allow him to file a valid case whereby the Employee Rights

Urrent recessionary situation in the UK economy Essay

Urrent recessionary situation in the UK economy - Essay Example The most common among these are the Consumer price index and the retail price index. The simplest way to understand the mechanism behind changes to inflation is through Aggregate Demand and Aggregate Supply dynamics. Given the economy is in macroeconomic equilibrium, if there is a positive shock to demand, i.e., aggregate demand shifts up, the price level rises. This is known as demand pull inflation. This type of inflation is observed particularly during periods of economic expansion. This is shown in figure 1 below. Figure 1: Demand-pull inflation In the diagram, SRAD represents the short run dynamics of demand; it shows how changes to aggregate demand are related to changes in the price level or inflation. Similarly, SRAS represents the short run dynamics of aggregate supply. Because of an expansionary shock to short run aggregate demand (SRAD), inflation increases from Is to Id. Again, even if short run demand remains unchanged, inflation can increase due to supply side shocks. In the diagram, SRAD represents the short run dynamics of demand; it shows how changes to aggregate demand are related to changes in the price level or inflation. Similarly, SRAS represents the short run dynamics of aggregate supply. Because of an expansionary shock to short run aggregate demand (SRAD), inflation increases from Is to Id. Again, even if short run demand remains unchanged, inflation can increase due to supply side shocks. For instance if there are bottlenecks in the supply chain which leads to contraction of supply, the short run aggregate supply curve shifts up to the left. This leads to an increase in inflation as well. This is known as cost push inflation since this happens due to sudden increases in production costs. Well known examples of such inflation generating cost rises over the years have been oil price shocks, labor market strikes etc. This mechanism is illustrated in figure 2 below. In Figure 2: Cost push inflation In the graph above, the SRAS curve is hit by a temporary shock resulting from increases in costs. The resulting movement to the left and up leads to a rise in the inflation rate from Is to Ir. It should b e noted that all factors that influence demand and supply mechanics can therefore influence inflation rates. Particular note should be taken of inflation expectations. If inflation is expected to rise in future, people start buying immediately and such behavior leads to the prices being pushed up. This is a simple instance of how inflation expectations constitute self fulfilling prophecies. Being armed with an understanding of the basic mechanics of inflation, we now turn to the actual observed situation in the UK economy. The UK economy is undergoing a substantially adverse situation. Although the Bank of England sets 2% as inflation target, the annual percentage change in Consumer Prince Index reached a 2 year high of 5.2% in January 2011. Although it has come down since then to around 4.2% in recent months, it still is considerably higher compared to the declared target of the Bank of England (BBC, 2011). What makes this situation precarious is that this inflation has occurred at a time when the economy was already reeling from a strong recessionary pressure. The global economic crisis and the ensuing recessionary pressures had seem the inflation rate hit a low of almost 1% in 2009. The recession has led to significant stress on the economy and caused losses of employment. In all other advanced economies, the recession has been associated with a disinflation, if not a deflation. In the UK economy however the inflation rate has climbed up substantially to hit the aforementioned highs (Dwyer et al., 2010). There are alternative viewpoints to explain this phenomenon, and we turn to these various explanations in the rest of this article. Figure 3: Inflation in UK, ONS data Figure 1 traces the quarterly movements of

Single parent families Essay Example for Free

Single parent families Essay It is a sad fact of modern life that more and more children are growing up in single parent family environments.Whether divorce, death of a parent, single member parenthood etc is the reeason. The ims pact on children in such environment is similar. This has created many problems but with will and cooperation solutions can be found. First of all, children who grow up in an intact two-parent family with both biological parents present do better in a wide range of outcomes than children who grow up in a single-parent family and this can be a serious problem. A very common problem is that a single-parent family child needs to have a standard role model and such a lack can lead to many psychological problems. For instance, children will have less emotional support, may feel insecure, lonely or alianated. That means that children may come up with other ideas in order to heal the pain they feel. Drug problrms, more alcohol, crimes, suicides are some of the most common behavours. Except these, a single parent family is band to have economical problems. For the following reasons the parent must, first of all, understabd why his child is feeling , the depressed. Then the children have to understand that in spite of the change of their family structure, they have a family. This can be done by visiting a psychologist. With profound communication away the family members, this problem can be overcome. Parent and children can also get help from a relative such as uncle/aunt that is willing to help in this difficult situation and fill the gap of the missing parent. To overcome the effects of limited finances, single paremts should seek out community resources to supplement the needs of their families including agencies that can also help them by supporting the family. In short, with cooperation, flexibility, understanding and love, many problems can be solved and as the years pass by the children of single parents will be as normal as the children of traditional fami les.

Impacts Of Mass Tourism On Ecotourism Sites Tourism Essay

Impacts Of Mass Tourism On Ecotourism Sites Tourism Essay This essay will mainly deal with the social, economic and environmental impacts of mass tourism on ecotourism taking into consideration that ecotourism can be seen as a form of mass tourism (As Weaver (2001: 112) says, ecotourism can be and usually is a variant of mass tourism.). It will begin by examining ecotourism looking at what ecotourism is and some examples of ecotourism sites such as Couran Cove Island Resort and Boondall Wetlands Reserve in Queensland, Australia. It will then move onto mass tourism again looking at what defines mass tourism and looking into areas that are considered to be mass tourism sites such as Benidorm and Mallorca in Spain. This will then move onto the impacts of mass tourism on ecotourism taking into account the social, economic and environmental impacts, drawing examples from the case studies above in Spain and Australia. Then it will briefly examine ecotourism as a form of mass tourism as stated by Weaver (2001). The most common definition of ecotourism is that it is a nature-based tourism and a form of sustainable tourism ecologically, socio-culturally and economically (Font Buckley, 2001: 32; Weaver, 2001: 105; Lim McAleer, 2005: 1431) and also as Ceballos-Lascurà ¡in 1996 (cited in Scheyvens 2002: 71) says Ecotourism is environmentally responsible, enlightening travel and visitation to relatively undisturbed natural areas in order to enjoy and appreciate nature (and any accompanying cultural features both past and present) that promotes conservation, has low visitor impact, and provides for beneficially active socio-economic involvement of local populations. The International Ecotourism Society has six main principles for ecotourists (this is the term this essay will use for tourists visiting ecotourism sites throughout the essay). These include: Minimizing impact on the environment Gain environmental and cultural awareness of the site to help respect and conserve the site. Provide positive experiences for both visitors and hosts. Provide direct financial benefits for conservation. Provide economic benefits to the host locals. Raise sensitivity to host countries political, environmental and social climate. (The International Ecotourism Society, 2010) Ecotourism can be divided into hard and soft-ecotourism. Hard ecotourism generally does not impact as much negatively on the environment as it tends to deal with tourists who are aware of the importance of sustainability, visits tend to be prolonged visits so the tourists actively engage in conserving the environment and respect the environment in which they are visiting (Weaver Lawton, 2002: 362). According to the International Ecotourism Society (2006: 4), In Europe: 20%-30% of travelers are aware of needs values of sustainable tourism. 10%-20% of travelers look for green options. 5%-10% of travelers demand green holidays. Soft ecotourism, which is the type of ecotourism that is most associated with mass tourism, is when tourists have a level of understanding of sustainability but are not as committed to actively participating in being sustainable and so do not respect the area they are visiting as much (Weaver Lawton, 2002: 363). Visits tend to be once-off day trips resulting in groups of people arriving by bus, which could happen a few times a day. These short term visits could potentially be more harmful, as the tourists may not have as much of an awareness or interest in protecting the environment they are visiting and may not be as careful as they should be they could cause physical damage, by stepping on plant species, which could in turn reduce biodiversity, which is harmful to an ecosystem. In the case of Queensland, Australia, it could be argued that it is a soft-ecotourism site, taking a figure from Lim and McAleer (2005: 1433) seen below, overnight visitors have fluctuated between 1995 an d 2000 however, in the case of intra and interstate visitors they have increased since 1995. The fact that the figure deals with overnight visitors, could be seen as a short-term stay, which coincides with soft ecotourism activity. Figure 1: Visitor arrivals in Queensland. (Source: Ibid: 1433) Examples of ecotourism sites include Couran Cove Island Resort, Boondall Wetlands Reserve Australia and the Great Barrier Reef, in Australia. Mass tourism can be defined as a quantitative notion, based on the proportion of the volume of the population participating in tourism or on the volume of tourist activity Burkart Medlik 1974 (cited in Bramwell, 2004: 7). Coming into the notion of mass tourism is the concept of the 3Ss Sun, Sea and Sand holidays. Spain became the most popular area for tourism by the 1990s there was a need to develop new products and promote new destinations (DeCleir, 2010). Mass tourism can also be associated with winter sports taking the Alps for example, which will be discussed later on in the essay. Mass tourism can tend to increase the pressure on the environment due to the large tourist volumes, which is not unlike soft ecotourism. Examples of areas that experience mass tourism are Benidorm and Mallorca in Spain and the winter sports in the Alps. Benidorm, a fishing village in Spain, so it could be deemed an ecotourism site, has seen considerable mass tourism effects The demands of mass tou rism have turned this place into a monster of an urban resort with high rise hotels, a shopping mall, bars (Schindler and Mindjov, p.1). Mass tourism can be seen to have an impact on ecotourism sites also. The three main areas where mass tourism has an effect on ecotourism are socially, economically and environmentally. Firstly, this essay will examine the economic impacts of mass tourism on ecotourism sites drawing examples from Spain. As can be seen from Table 1, tourism contributions to Spains Gross Domestic Product has increased significantly from 2000 to 2007, increasing by à ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ¬38,995 in seven years. Table 1: Tourism Contribution to Spanish GDP. (Source: Spanish Statistics Institute, Tourism Satellite Account of Spain (cited in Spanish Tourism in Figures 2009: 8). Tourism is an economic generator, not only do the host destination benefit from the amount of money coming in from the tourists but also, the fact that the site is a tourist site, creates employment in the area. As Lim and McAleer (2005: 1432) says, For many countries and regions, tourism represents one of the few opportunities for local development, employment and revenue generation. However, regions can develop an over-dependency on tourism in relation to GDP. Taking the Maldives for example, 80% of their GDP comes from tourism (DeClair, 2010). This over-dependence on tourism can result in the tourism industry in the region declining. Another impact of mass tourism is environmental. Environmental impacts include: sustainability preservation and conservation, physical damage which can result in a reduction of biodiversity and visual impact, and pollution. Taking the effect winter sports in the Alps as mentioned earlier, as an example The Alps could be considered to be an ecotourism site as it is a natural area, however it could be argued that it has not really been very beneficial at having a low impact on its environment through extensive tourism mass tourism. The winter sports that take place on the Alps have done a lot of damage to the mountains in terms of loss of biodiversity. For example, there have been reports that the black grouse population has declined and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has suggested that this decline is linked to the spread of winter sports (Patthey et al., 2008: 2). In the Couran Cove Island Resort, they have measures in place to protect their environ ment from tourists, for example, they have put into place a re-vegetation and rehabilitation program which they hope will help conserve existing vegetation and integrated within this program they hope to provide education to the local community about the fragile ecosystem (Lim and McAleer, 2005: 1433). They have also built eco-cabins that are built on stumps, the idea being that the surrounding environment can be left undisturbed and yet the tourists can still see the habitats in their natural environment (ibid: 1434). Mass tourism can cause congestion in an ecotourism site during peak seasons this could result in pollution of an area and visual degradation. In the case of the economic and environmental, these two impacts can be linked together. If a ecotourism site is getting a lot of tourists, then they are taking in revenue. The more money generated from tourism, the more the money that can go back into the conservation and preservation the sustainability of the area. In the case of social impacts on a site, as Hall and Lew (2009: 180) say, the development of the tourism industry can contribute broadly to changes in the quality of life, social structure and social organization of destination communities. These social impacts can be both positive and negative. Generally, however, the host residents are prepared to put up with the negative impacts as the positive ones are so desirable (DeCleir, 2010). Employment, although mainly an economic impact, can also be a social impact. With employment, comes the need for education and upskilling, which can be seen as a personal social benefit. When a person has a job, they are getting a regular income and so will feel safer in knowing that they can meet their basic needs (Hall and Lew, 2009: 180). In addition to this, when people have more money, they can go out and socialise with their friends or meet new people. Acculturation (when two cultures are in contact over a long period of time, there is a danger o f them becoming similar (DeCleir, 2010)), can become a problem in a tourist area, which could eventually lead to the loss of an original culture of the area. This can lead to a reduction in diversity the loss of cultural identity can affect host destinations local people, especially the elderly, as they may lose the traditional ways of life that they grew up with, which could affect their sense of security in where they live. According to Weaver (2001:104) ecotourism as both a reality and an ideal can logically be conceived as a form of mass tourism Although mass tourism can have an effect on ecotourism, ecotourism can be seen as a form of mass tourism. Soft ecotourism in particular is more often associated with mass tourism as shorter, more intensive trips are considered more damaging than longer trips as, as said at the beginning of this essay, visits tend to be once off day-trips, with loaded tour buses arriving with groups of people to visit a site all in one day; whereas with longer trips, the tourists are less likely to stay or impact upon a site all day continuously. Mass tourism can have both positive and negative effects on ecotourism sites. Positive impacts include, an increase in popularity of a site which will lead to more revenue being created which can in turn be reinvested back into the conservation of the site. Negative impacts of mass tourism tend to outweigh the positive impacts; some negative impacts include, physical impact the damage that can be done to the site, its attractiveness and reduction of biodiversity, for example, the winter sports in the Alps increased congestion during peak seasons and seasonality for example, in Greece, most hotels are closed for six months of the year (DeCleir, 2010). All of the above effects can be separated into three categories of impacts social, economic and environmental, which have all been dealt with in this essay.